An advert by the
fashion company Yves Saint Laurent has been banned by the UK’s
advertising watchdog for using a model who appeared to be unhealthily
underweight.

Upholding a
complaint that the model looked too thin, the Advertising Standards
Authority (ASA) censured the advert, which appeared in Elle magazine,
as irresponsible.

In its ruling,
published on Wednesday, it said: “The ASA considered that the
model’s pose and the particular lighting effect in the ad drew
particular focus to the model’s chest, where her rib cage was
visible and appeared prominent, and to her legs, where her thighs and
knees appeared a similar width, and which looked very thin,
particularly in light of her positioning and the contrast between the
narrowness of her legs and her platform shoes.

“We therefore
considered that the model appeared unhealthily underweight in the
image and concluded that the ad was irresponsible.”

It said YSL
indicated that it did not agree that the model in the advert for
Saint Laurent Paris was unhealthily thin but did not provide a
detailed response.

The use of skinny
models has come under increased scrutiny in recent years, with
critics claiming that it damages the body confidence of women and
girls by promoting unrealistic and unhealthy ideals.

A petition started
by an LA-based blogger urging YSL to stop using “painfully thin
models” in its advertisements collected just under 50,000
signatures last year. Despite the spotlight on the fashion industry,
the YSL advert is one of only a handful that have been banned by the
ASA for featuring models who look too thin.

In 2011, the
watchdog banned an online advert for the clothing brand Drop Dead,
for using a size-8 girl in a bikini with “highly visible” hip,
rib and collar bones.

Last year, Urban
Outfitters was ordered to remove a photo from its website showing the
lower half of a young woman’s body, with the ASA noting that “there
was a significant gap between the model’s thighs, and that her
thighs and knees were a similar width”.

Responding to the
ruling, Jo Swinson, co-founder of the Campaign for Body Confidence
said: “Where images are irresponsible, it’s right that the ASA
takes action. It’s better for girls to channel the spirit of [Sport
England campaign] ‘This Girl Can’ to focus on their body feeling
great through exercise, than feeling pressure to have a thigh gap.”

The ASA found the
advertisement breached section 1.3 of the Committee of Advertising
Practice code, which states: “Marketing communications must be
prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society.”